So it depends on the type / race of the immigrant does it? In fact David - most refugees from the Syrian conflict don’t go anywhere near North Africa - most escaping to Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. Looks like Le Pen (or someone else?) has got it wrong again!
Edit: David please don’t send me any more Facebook messenger requests - thanks 
Hi David and welcome to the forum.
I posted this Thread this morning… in anger against the closure of a super little restaurant I know, whose sole aim is to help handicapped people find employment. 
It has always run on a tight budget… training catering staff and delivering delicious meals in lovely surroundings… albeit a little off the beaten track.
Main support has been year-round trade from business groups and regulars… with the added bonus of visitors who swarm up and down the riverbank in the Summer.
The GJ have caused grave disruption in Perigueux since the very beginning… to such an extent that folk have been forced to change their habits of visiting/shopping/whatever to avoid any hassle… this has continued for months and has whittled away their clientele.
Darn shame, since the GJ movement (as I understand it) is aimed at helping the under-dog.
At the Restaurant, the handicapped folk received training, gaining skills and self-confidence… and eventually were able to move on to full-time employment.
I’m cross at myself as well…
Fed up with the hassle… we, too, have stopped our normal trips to Perigueux since the GJ started… and now it’s too late to visit this friendly resto with it’s gentle charm… didn’t even get to say goodbye.
Smacks of the Victorians and the ‘deserving poor’ doesn’t it…
The only disruption I’ve seen in this area was in Castres at the beginning of things; & in St. Pons, just up the road but in 34…
I’m a firm believer in the right of the individual(s) to peacefully protest…key word “peacefully”…but when it escalates the way it has, I ask myself the question “was it allowed to get out of control ?”, or indeed “was it pushed in that direction?”
Once the powers that be are seen as being pushed to use force, then that can become a precedent for the future…ie, if, in a few months; a few years after the GJ’s have been squashed, discredited, jailed, however that works out…& nothing much has changed (in terms of the original motives), & someone (foolishly?) decides to take up the gauntlet once more, then all the Pres. has to say is “well look what happened last time !” …& he will almost certainly have the majority of support behind him…possibly rightly so.
Again, I feel the GJ’s had a case, but in some respects, it’s gone a bit shit for them…shame therefore that for many people, things won’t change for the better any time soon.
The French government handled the GJ’s protests badly from the start and when things turned ugly they sent in the riot squad who simply blasted people with plastic bullets and water cannons, some of the injuries people have suffered are scary to say the least. Where we go from here is anyone’s guess, maybe something will come of ’ Le Grand Debat’ but I doubt it, from what I’ve seen of the local GJ’s camp they’re in it for the long haul.
Just for some balance, please don’t forget the large number of police, gendarmes and pompiers injured and disabled during the protests . I am proud to declare I have 2 policemen and one pompier in the family - all Paris based. Not an easy time for them or the family.
The online collection for these guys has nearly reached 1.5€m - a drop in the ocean in the great scale of things but it will help to make a difference.
Shocked to hear this about Toulouse, Simon. Here in Brittany there has been little sign of the gilets-jaunes since the first weekend back in November - and we’ve also had a weekend down in the Loire (Angers) also without any sign of protests.
The protests a couple of years ago by the bonnets-rouges were much more disruptive here - and Brittany has a long history of rebellion.
(What is it about French protest movements and clothes by the way - sans-culottes etc?)
We’ll see what happens tomorrow but I suspect it will be more of the same - I’ll post an update.
and remember, that if the GJs hadn’t been pelting them with cobble stones and worse, there would have been no reason for them to respond with lawful crowd control tactics 
Well said Graham - I can’t begin to imagine a pétanque ball flying towards me…
…you need to get out more Simon !!
Thank you for pointing that out Simon , my bad. I had an image of black people drowning in the Mediterranean and Italy sending them away in my head as I wrote my comment , but yes they would have been from Tchad or Sudan.
As to my Facebook message , this was an attempt at me trying to be polite , I think that messenger and Facebook are for public use . Oh well , I take it you didn’t bother reading it either so I’ll leave a copy here . Have a nice weekend Simon !
Good to see another enterprise for such a worthy cause.
I think you and I are enjoying (is that the word) different views on GJ activity…
I like to think that the actions which have disrupted local life… are seriously coming to an end.
I know, our school cook will be delighted when she no longer has to take the longer back routes to go shopping for fresh produce Mondays and Wednesdays … at our nearest small town.
Didn’t see your message David - I’d already blocked you. Bon weekend!
Tip - try Deepl.com - better than Google
I love your take on the ‘’jilly Jones’’ . I joined that group thanks if only to run through it and look for any Brit bashing comments. Didn’t find any , not surprised though. This group have a Facebook page too with only 5000 ish members/ likes . I could post you one fb group with 316,000 members or another with 170,000 or another count group with 1.8 million . But you seem to have found your ‘jilly Jones’ group all by yourself . All that said, be it 5000 or 5000000 , I didn’t find any Brit bashing comments . Your safe. Have a nice weekend
Phewwww and there was me worrying… 
I don’t know about Simon (although I can guess) but I find it in very poor taste to post someone’s profile detail on Facebook when the user has himself declared he is not interested in extending his on-line ‘family’.
Just who does this individual think he is?
There are a lot of forums that would get you banned
Someone who was with us briefly a couple of weeks ago Graham…
ps : say a big ‘hi’ to Roger when you nex see him.
